Lest I be full, and deny [thee], and say, Who [is] the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God [in vain].
Ver. 9. Lest I be full and deny thee, &c.] Fulness breeds forgetfulness, saturity security Deuteronomy 32:14; See Trapp on " Deu 32:14 " 1 Timothy 6:17 See Trapp on " 1Ti 6:17 " every grain of riches hath a vermin of pride and ambition in it. A man may desire them, as one desires a ship to pass over the sea from one country to another; but to many they prove hindrances to heaven, remoras to religious practices. Many in their low estate could serve God, but now resemble the moon, which never suffers eclipse but at her full, and that is by the earth's interposition between the sun and herself. Even an Agur full fed may grow wanton, and be dipping his fingers in the devil's sauce; yea, so far may he forget himself, as to deny the Lord (or as the Hebrew hath it, belie him), disgrace his housekeeping, and cast a slur upon his work and wages by his shameful apostasy; yea (as Pharoah-like), to ask, Who is the Lord? as if such were petty gods within themselves, and could by the help of their mammon do well enough without him. Solomon's wealth did him more harm than his wisdom did him good. Ecc 2:1-26 It was his abundance that drew out his spirits, and dissolved him, and brought him to so low an ebb in grace.
Or, lest I be poor and steal.] Necessity is a hard weapon; we use to say, Hunger is an evil counsellor, and poverty is bold or daring, as Horace calls it. a The baser sort of people in Swethland do always break the Sabbath, saying, that it is only for gentlemen to keep that day. And the poorer sort among us (some of them I mean that have learned no better) hold theft in them, petty larceny at least, a peccadillo, an excusable evil; for either we must steal, say they, or starve; the belly hath no ears; our poor children must not pine and perish, &c. And truly "men do not despise," - i.e., not so much despise - "a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry," saith Solomon Pro 6:30 in his argument that an adulterer is worse than a thief; though a thief be bad enough, shut out of heaven. 1Co 6:9 But if he steal for necessity - πεινωντι κλεπτειν εστ αναγκαιως εχον, saith the Greek proverb, there is no remedy but a harking stomach must be quieted - men do the more excuse him a tanto, though not a toto. But God saith flat and plain, "Thou shalt in no case steal." "Let him that stole steal no more," but let him labour with his hands, and depend upon God's providence; let him prefer affliction before sin, and rather die than do wickedly. But want is a sore temptation, as Agur feared, and that good man felt, mentioned by Master Perkins, who being ready to starve, stole a lamb; and being about to eat of it with his poor children, and (as his manner was before meat) to crave a blessing, durst not do it, but fell into a great perplexity of conscience, acknowledged his fault to the owner, and promised restitution if ever able to make it.
And take the name of my God in vain.] He says not, Lest I, being poor, steal and be fined, burnt in the hand, whipped, &c. No; but "Lest I take thy name in vain"; that is, cause thy name to stink among the ungodly, open their mouths, break down the banks of blasphemy, by such a base sin, committed by such a forward professor. Good men take God's name in vain no way so much as by confuting and shaming their profession by a scandalous conversation, such as becometh not the gospel of Christ; moreover, they count sin to be the greatest smart in sin, as being more sensible of the wound they therein give the glory of God, than of any personal punishment.
a Necessitas durum telum. Fames malesuada, audax paupertas.